Tag Archives: california coast

Umm… where did 2013 go?! Oh, that’s right… back over there! Obviously, I haven’t been blogging very much recently, so I wanted to do a quick recap of some fun moments this past month for documentation purposes. These kinds of posts make a good time reference in the future.

Earlier in December, I finished my first 5k with friends. I can now cross that one off of my bucket list. Wahoo! Surprisingly, it was lots of fun, and it’s something I would definitely do again. As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying to search for my next race. Yup, we dressed up as elves to get us into the spirit.

As far as our 2013 Christmas tree, we decided on keeping it metallic and white. It was pretty much a gold and silver tree this year.

Overall, it was a wonderful holiday season. Yeah, it’s nice to eat delicious holiday food and get lavish gifts, but the best part about this season, at least for me, was feeling blessed to have spent lots of quality time with the people I love.

As for New Year’s Eve, we spent it at the beach, of course!

Later that evening, as we rang in 2014, we popped a bottle and enjoyed the fizz.

To start off the new year with a bang, we drove down the coast this past Sunday. We had a little family picnic on one of our favorite beaches in Big Sur. I think the four of us should just become professional beach bums, hah!

Yup, and that pretty much brings us up to date with life. We’ve got stuffed planned this weekend, so expect a post in the near future.

We’ve been busy since the last time I blogged. It’s crazy to think just how much we’ve done in a few months. We’ve been down the coast of California a handful of times, visited Yosemite again, and flew out to the East Coast.

1. Driving down to So-Cal: This never gets old, especially because the coastal views are gorgeous!

2. Yosemite: Having the National Park annual pass is totally worth the price you pay. Besides, there’s so much to do here – camping, hiking, and even biking! This time around, we packed our bikes and rode around the park; it’s such a fun way to see the park’s beauty. On this trip, we also had the pleasure of spotting one of Yosemite’s very own bears! It was scary to be so close to it, but it was so close to our bike trail. Besides, we are technically romping around its home, hehe. After a couple of minutes, it walked back towards the mountainside.

3. Philadelphia and Princeton: We stayed in Princeton, but we drove down to Philly to play in Gloria’s old stomping work grounds. Even though there was a lightening/thunder storm over some parts of the area, we drove right through the madness and got to Philly safely. I’m glad that we did. I got tons of cancellation stamps for my National Park Passport at Independence Hall. It was also nice to be back in a place with so many memories. 🙂

4. New York: There’s so much to love about this city. It’s magical in every way. I miss it already. 🙂

The last time I was up in Fort Bragg, California, I was about seven or eight years old. At that time, I had the coolest watch ever; it was one of those watches that you could shake up, and you could see glitter and confetti float around. What made it even better was the fact that it was a Little Mermaid watch! Well, being the seven year old that I was, I took it off to dig in the sand and forgot it when we left. I cried for hours that day, definitely one of the saddest days from childhood, hehe.

Over twenty years later, I wanted to drive up the coast to revisit the place that broke my heart. This time, however, there were no broken hearts. Exact opposite happened, actually.

The ocean mended my heart.

Here are some pictures from our drive up to Mendocino/Fort Bragg:

We stayed at this beautiful eco-retreat, Stanford Inn. It was so peaceful and relaxing, and I’m glad we randomly found this place on the side of Highway 1. Not only is it environmentally friendly, it has a phenomenal garden, which they use to get all ingredients for the restaurant on the premises. Plus, we were given bicycle rentals, which we didn’t have time to utilize, but how cool is that?! Red doors for each suite? Yes, please! Dog friendly? Why, of course! Maui and Hilo would’ve loved this place! This amazing retreat will definitely be on the “need to go back here” list in the near future.

I want to list all of the little pit stops that we went to, but because I’m short on time today, I’m gonna end the post here. I’ll have to share more pictures of our weekend excursion either later today or tomorrow.

This weekend was beyond fantastic. I love all of the spontaneity; it’s been a while since I lived life with no time constraints from work. It’s just an overall wonderful feeling, truly a breath of fresh air.

On Saturday, we drove to Half Moon Bay. I packed up a lunch for all of us, and off we went. The dogs had a blast running and rolling around in the sand. It was definitely a windier day than most, but we still had a great time. It was pretty hilarious trying to watch Maui and Hilo run against the wind; their ears would stand straight up, hehe. After playing in HMB, we headed South into Santa Cruz.

Yesterday, we decided to drive down the California coast just for the heck of it. We were planning on leaving on Monday morning and going down the boring way, but why not take our time, drive down Highway 1, and enjoy its beauty?!

With clear visibility for miles, we spotted tons of marine life, whales, otters, and seals to name a few. The views are absolutely breathtaking, right?! I don’t think I could ever get sick of the ocean’s beauty.

I will never get tired of the California coast. There’s always something or some place new and exciting to explore. A couple of days ago, we decided to drive down the coast again, and this time we found this fun little stop off the side of the freeway. It’s amazing that this old bridge still allows cargo trains to cross it.

Not only is there a bridge with train tracks, there’s also a pedestrian walkway for people to enjoy the views. Here are a couple of pictures that were taken:

By the end of our slight detour, the dogs were non-stop panting, exhausted! I can’t fault their “out-of-shapeness”; it was pretty toasty outside. Besides, miniature schnauzers have thick coats of hair on their bodies. Plus, it doesn’t help that Maui and Hilo are in dire need of major grooming, hehe. 😉

…and after half of a day of driving and exploring, we safely arrived at the hotel. I love this picture of my family.